Let Delhi not go the Mumbai way: Oppose intolerance and hatred of disruptors

Statement from People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

22 October 2010

PUDR strongly condemns the intolerance and hatred that a section of the audience, described by the media as Panum Kashmir, showed during a seminar on Kashmir held in New Delhi on October 21.

Organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, the focus of the seminar was on the issue of azaadi in Kashmir. Various civil and democratic rights activists and thinkers from different parts of the country, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, addressed the audience.

The meeting was disrupted soon after the second speaker reiterated the UN Charter of Civil and Political Rights which guarantees the right of self-determination to all citizens. The disruptors shouted Hindutva slogans and attempted to thwart the meeting. The effort was clearly to intimidate and prevent the organizers, speakers and the audience from participating in the seminar.

PUDR believes that since the democratic right to hold a dissenting opinion is a fundamental right which the Indian Constitution guarantees to all its citizens, the disruptors should have intervened, as was suggested by the organizers, in the course of the discussion and enriched the debate with their viewpoints. The strong-arm tactics of bullying and heckling, a method perfected by the Shiv Sena and recently demonstrated in the Mumbai University’s syllabus episode over Rohinton Mistry’s book, Such a Long Journey, is condemnable.

PUDR believes that the views of the disruptors are neither surprising nor original. The fact that they refuse to debate their viewpoints is a sign of the times. PUDR appeals to all democratic minded people to resist the politics of jingoism as was shown in the meeting.

I was present and speaking a few hours ago at a meeting titled 'Azadi: The Only Way' on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners at the Little Theatre Group in Delhi yesterday (21st October). I was not present from the beginning of the meeting as I was traveling from another city, but can vouch for what occurred from around 4:30 pm till the time that the meeting wound up, well after 8:00 pm in the evening.

Invitation to Convention for the formation of Students' Solidarity Committee for Separate Telangana (10am - 5pm, 10 March 2011, JNU, New Delhi)Students' March to Parliament (12 am, 11 March 2011, Mandi House to Parliament Street)

Dear friends,

The world has been very much familiar with the history of the heroic sacrifices of the Telangana people. The struggle for a separate Telangana state is one of the most longstanding democratic movements of the Indian subcontinent. From the very inception of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 the people of Telangana have demanded a separate statehood. The more than five decades of continuous struggle have resulted today in the recognition and acceptance of a separate Telangana as a necessity among the people of the country. There is a wide acceptance among the rest of Andhra Pradesh that its people have a right to a separate statehood because they have been economically, socially, politically and culturally exploited and discriminated against by the rulers of Seemandhra. Clearly, it is only with the formation of a separate Telangana that a concrete step towards resolving the problems of the region can be taken, and a true people-oriented process of development can be initiated.

The present Telangana movement is in a continuation to the movement that had begun seven decades ago, with a great vision to liberate Telangana people from the clutches of Nizam's brutal autocracy and the system of Vetti. The people of Telangana were made to join the Indian Union on 17 September 1948, while the people of India is said to have got independence from British colonialism on 15 August 1947. This political change created the necessary conditions to exploit the region with the establishment of Seemandhra colonial rule in the form of government employees from Seemandhra, who replaced the Nizam rule. Seeing that the independent Hyderabad state has been a potential source of natural resources like coal, iron-ore, limestone, forest wealth, water resources and the cheap labour of hard-working Telangana people, Seemandhra capitalists and feudal landlords who constitute the ruling classes usurped the Telangana region. Against the recommendations of Fazl Ali State Reorganisation Committee Report which recommended Hyderabad state to be independent, and against the aspirations of the Telangana people, Andhra Pradesh state was formed, merging Seemandhra region with Telangana region. All the GOs, committees and agreements that have been made, right from the Gentlemen's Agreement in 1956 to GO 36, 6 Point Formula, 8 Point Formula, Regional Council, Presidential Order, 610 GO, Girglani Commission, Pranab Mukherjee Committee, Rosaiah Committee and even the most recent Sri Krishna Committee, are the attempts of the Government of India to betray the democratic demands of the Telangana people, who have consistently fought against the secret plot behind the 'Telugu nationality'.

Above all, in the United Andhra Pradesh, Telangana people are to lead the existence of mere 'second grade citizens'. The people of Telangana region, which is rich in natural resources, are to migrate and live as bonded labourers. The exploitative policies followed by the central government in collusion with the regional ruling classes of Seemandhra has led to the scarcity of water for both drinking and cultivation purposes, even when Telangana has several perennial rivers like Krishna and Godavri running through the region. The negligence of the Seemandhra government to develop better irrigation and safe drinking water facilities can be identified as the cause for the increased number of farmers' suicides and Fluorosis cases in the Telangana region. It is due to nearly 3 lakh Seemandhra employees, who illegally occupied several governmental positions reserved for Telangana people by producing fake local certificates, graduates and post graduates from Telangana are compelled to become auto drivers, day-labourers and some even have to leave the motherland for abroad(Dubai, Muscat and Saudi Arabia etc.) to be bonded labourers. It is heart-rending to know that the parents, wives and the children of the dead in abroad are not in a position to pay the last sight to their beloved. Telangana region has now become dried and decimated due to internal colonial exploitation by the Seemandhra ruling classes that began in 1956 with its merger with Seemandhra. Threat of loosing language, dialect and the culture, Telangana people have been fighting against economic, political and cultural exploitation to have independence from Seemandhra domination. In 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, rightly identified the expansionist designs behind the idea of Visalandhra and at a public meeting in Nizamabad compared the conditional merger of Telangana and Seemandhra with the matrimonial alliance which always have a provision of divorce in case the alliance becomes unwanted for any party. Even after seeing through the reasons behind the merger, Nehru gave in to the Seemandhra ruling classes' interests, and did a historic injustice to Telangana by approving the merger. Subsequent Indian rulers, be it Indira Gandhi or presently Sonia Gandhi, followed the path of Nehru to act against Telangana.

Telangana movement is a democratic movement for self- respect, liberty, equality and fraternity, for which the people of Telangana have been fighting for decades. Going against the people's justified and democratic demand, the Central Government under the leadership of Indira Gandhi and the State Government under the Seemandhra leader Kasu Brahmananda Reddy had brutally suppressed the people's movement in 1969 firing bullets, killing around 400 students and putting thousands behind the bars. In this way, the government has acted to serve the interests of only the ruling classes, employing different repressive methods to put an end to the people's heroic battle. They have drenched Telangana region with bloodshed, violating even the fundamental right of its people to live. While Telangana movement has followed a non-violent path and remained under the constitutional limits, the government has been most violent, undemocratic and unconstitutional in addressing it.

In 1971 the Telangana people overwhelmingly cast their votes to TPS, a party that went to people with the single demand for separate Telangana state. The people made TPS victorious with a thumping majority, electing 11 parliamentary members out of its 14 candidates. This continued in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 elections when TRS party went with the same demand and the people of Telangana expressed their aspirations repeatedly. But, all the political parties, particularly the Congress party, have been successfully using the people's emotions and their heroic sacrifices to play their political games in order to come to power. The Congress party, in the 2004 elections, included the demand for separate Telangana in its election manifesto. However, it changed its stand once it came to power, cleverly constituting the Pranab Mukherjee Committee to delay the process of state formation. It again repeated the same in the 2009 elections. But bowing down to the latest phase of the movement with participation of people from all walks of life, including students and advocates, the Home Minister of India Mr. P. Chidambaram officially announced on 9 December 2009 the initiation of the process of introducing the Telangana Bill in the parliament. But the Congress, influenced by the Seemandhra ruling classes, once again repeated its history of betrayal and changed its own statement in less than 15 days of announcement.

For the past 14 months, the ruling Congress has imposed a military rule in Telangana by deploying large numbers of paramilitary forces all over the region. It has appointed a cruel and anti-people ex-police officer, Mr. Narasimhan, as the governor of Andhra Pradesh in order to turn Telangana region into a sea of blood. These paramilitary forces have been lathi-charging the protesting students, firing rubber bullets and tear gas shells on them and filing false cases against the students to put them behind bars. These armed forces have occupied colleges, universities and the student hostels (including those of the girls), torturing the students with their inhuman behaviour and derogatory language. These forces are not even hesitant in assaulting the media persons who try to report the police atrocities on the students and the common people. The Journalists' Forum has marked its protest against these actions. The police have also tried to break the movement from inside by acting as agent-provocateurs, joining the student protestors in civil dress and pelting stones at their own fellow policemen, and later charging the students for violence. In these ways, the government has been converting the universities into war zones, and are playing with the lives and aspirations of the Telangana people. In this critical situation, many of the dejected youth, who had dreams of a bright future in a separate and independent Telangana state, have been committing suicides leaving behind their suicide notes addressed to the rulers. Not less than 600 students have committed suicide so far. While the Congress government has been indifferent to the self-immolation of these students, the leaders of Telangana political parties too are mortgaging the self-respect of Telangana people for their personal political careers. The progressive and democratic sections of the country, all major parliamentary parties of India such as BJP, BSP, CPI, JDU, FB, RPI, excluding CPI(M), and various democratic and people's organisations have extended their solidarity to the demand of separate Telangana state.

There is an urgent need to stand in solidarity with the people of Telangana in the coming phase of their struggle, and to build up a movement across the country in its support. The students and youth of Telangana have spearheaded the movement with their militant and uncompromising struggle in the past, which have captured the imagination of not only the people of Telangana but also outside. Now is the need to build a broad-based solidarity of students and student organisations across various states and regions with the fighting masses of Telangana, particularly with its students and youth. With the movement now about to enter a critical phase, solidarity of students for a separate Telangana is the need of the hour. It is with this understanding that the students of universities and colleges of Telangana wish to invite you/your organisation to participate in a students' convention in New Delhi towards forming a solidarity platform where students and students' organisations across various states and regions can come together with the agenda of fighting for a separate Telangana state. The convention will be followed by a march to parliament demanding that the central government introduce a bill for separate Telangana within the upcoming budget session.

? Implement the Central Government's official statement on separate Telangana state made on 9 December 2009 by introducing a bill in the parliament in the coming budget session!

? Withdraw the paramilitary forces deployed in Telangana region, including university and college campuses!

? Withdraw all the cases that have been filed on the protesting Telangana students, activists and the people!

TORONTO:Under the banners of Friends of Kashmir, World Kashmiri Diaspora Alliance and Anti War Coalition, people of all walks of life full of emotion and zeal gathered in front of the Consulate General of USA in Toronto to express their anger over the killings of innocent Kashmiris in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The protestors were carrying banners and vocalizing “Indian army out of Kashmir”, “We do not want to see gross human rights violations in Kashmir”, and “Stop the brutal killing of our children.” It began at 12:00 PM and concluded in approximately three hours.

The protesters were angered by continued and unabated reports of killing of unarmed protestors, torture, and rape being used as a weapon to break the ‘will’ of the Kashmiris as documented by Amnesty International (AI), Asia Watch and various NGOs (Non-governmental organizations).

Farooq Papa the head of World Kashmir Diaspora Alliance called on the Canadian Government to take cognizance of how Indian democracy has in the past and at present responded to the peaceful unarmed protests of the Kashmiri masses. He further stated that Indian democracy has failed miserably as a democratic country to reach the minimum standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which India is a signatory.

Allowing India to get away with impunity for its human right records in Kashmir will embolden the ill conceived model of using state terror as a means of governance and stifling the peaceful protest of millions of Kashmiris, who are within their right to demand self determination and freedom from Indian occupation, properly recognized by the international community as a state whose political future is to be decided by an impartial referendum.

Farooq Papa said that while India is preparing for holding the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the Kashmiri civilian population is being traumatized, and cities and towns in Kashmir are being converted into garrisons. Due to extreme repressive measures being used by the Indian forces, a humanitarian crisis is fast developing in Jammu and Kashmir, with an unprecedented day and night curfew, acute shortage of medicine, milk, and even baby food, obstruction in the movement of ambulances, doctors and medical staff, shortage of blood and life saving drugs in hospitals, disruption in water and electricity supplies and telephone and internet services, banning of SMS services, clamping down on local media and beating of media persons, and nocturnal raids to harass people.

Dr. Azrab Khan, of Friends of Kashmir strongly condemned the use of indiscriminate force against the peaceful protesters who demanded immediate withdrawal of draconian black law of PSA (provincial security agency), and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). These laws give the security forces the right to kill with impunity. Such powers are in contravention to the international law and violate the basic tenets of human rights. These gruesome acts and violations of human right are shielded by the pro-governments of states, he added.

Mr. Khawaja Rafiq of Friends of Kashmir noted that India forgets that no military force has ever quelled popular movements; as such, the military occupation is unjustified. It is well known that Indian intelligence agencies have had a big role in shaping phony political parties and politicians having no roots in the masses, holding fraudulent elections and installing puppet regimes detested by the people and using armed personnel in filling the ballot boxes in the so-called ‘undemocratic elections to look like democratic’. Such processes are to rig the elections by undemocratic means, that is, too, under gun points and intimidation of the alleged Indian democracy.

Mr. M. A. Qureshi, Zarar Siddiqi, Aftab Malik, Asif Sherazi, Sajjad Hyder, and Asad Afaqui asserted if India could not suppress the voice of Kashmiris in 63 years, it would never be able to do so.

Ms Marlene Obeid, spokesperson for the Anti War Coalition condemned the atrocities done against the Kashmiris by the Indian Government and promised that their group will keep working to stop the cruelty.

Habib Yousafzai of World Kashmiri Diaspora Alliance stated that the solution of the Kashmir problem, which has persisted chronically for over sixty three years, is uncomplicated and that is, to allow the Kashmiri people to decide in a UN supervised plebiscite about their future. The United Nations has to follow the situation of ‘Two’ referenda employed by the Government of Canada, under the leaderships of Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Right Honourable John Chretien, a few years ago for the people of the Province of Quebec. Both times, the people of the province of Canada gave their verdict to remain a part of Canada.

The second example is of the people of Puerto Rico, when the United States Congress said it is up to the people of Puerto Rico to decide whether they wish to live independently or would like to be a part of the United States. During the elections, the people of Puerto Rico made it crystal clear to the United States that they would be like to be governed by the United States. The UN should follow the referenda conducted by the Governments of Canada and the United States of America. Under no circumstance and as long the plebiscite is not conducted, India must understand that the people oppressed in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir are not the ‘integral’ part of Hindu-Brahmin India.

CALL FOR ACTION: Protest against CBI cover up report on Shopian Rape and Murder case!!!

DEMAND JUSTICE FOR NEELOFAR AND ASIYA!!!

A Public Event in New Delhi on 13th December, 2010 at 4pm in front of CBI Office

Come and participate with one white bed sheet with the words 'TO THE CBI - FOR YOUR NEXTCOVER-UP!!!' written in huge letters across it with the name of the organisation/individual below.

Dear friends, Even as the Kashmir valley has been in turmoil, yet again, with excesses by the armed forces, cases of rape and killings remain unresolved especially when involving the police, para military or military.

Shopian Double Death Case: Asiya Jaan and her sister-in-law Neelofar Jaan left home in the evening of 29th May, 2009 BUT did not return. Their bodies were recovered from the banks of Rambiara Nullah on the morning of 30th of May 2009 in the same spot that a search party including the local police had searched- a very well-lit area- till the early hours of 30th May.

The police was very much on the scene but did little to collect evidence; for five days no case was registered. The first post-mortem report (District Hospital, Shopian) and the second-post-mortem report (by a medical team from Pulwama district and analysed at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Srinagar) stated rape and murder in its report. Even as Shopian town observed a 45-day long Bandh the people of Kashmir put aside all other political demands to join this agitation and the people of Jammu also lent solidarity.

The agitation launched by the tribes, farmers and daily wagers of Narayanpatna has caught the imagination of exploited people of Odisha and India as well. The consciousness of the exploited people of Narayanpatna has been developed, culminating in the agitation, which today is an organic entity dynamic in its spirit. The land dispute, which remained unsettled for generations together, could be solved due to concerted efforts of thousands of people led by the 'Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh', who, in the long run, have been able to take their lands back from the landlords, what was rightfully theirs.